Little bike bonanza this week dear reader. On Monday I snapped this classic purple Stowaway in St Kilda Road outside the Arts Centre (spotted on the way to see David Byrne and St Vincent no less – cultured me!)
Then today I got the trifecta all on the same corner (Gertrude and Napier).
Spotted this one first – a Centurian (new to me) with a bit of home styling in the paint department.
Quality from where? The next word was painted over. Tantalising.
It was a nice warm evening and the Centurian was standing guard outside a pub with outdoor tables, so what’s a girl to do? Stop for a beer naturally. And lucky I did, because what did I spy from my beer-sipping vantage point?
None other than this Graecross…
The rider came out of the restaurant it was parked in front of and very kindly offered to move it so I could get a better shot . (Not sure if she arranged the artfully places small child in the background.)
She told me she’d bought it on ebay for $80…sweet.
She also said she’d had some work done on the gears…
which, I notice, were 5 speed – I thought Graecross normally had 3 speed hub gears…(I shall pause to consult the oracle – me) WRONG! Looks like they come in single speed and 5 speed. ANYWAY moving on… it’s got some nice details.
and the best bit of the story is that the rider’s sister has a powder blue Malvern Star and they ride round together,
twin like.
Love that!
On the subject of Malvern Stars, here’s the third bike of the lucky corner trifecta. Don’t you love the sweep of the Malvern Star handle bars? (If yes, here’s and even lovelier example from an earlier post –Follow through.
I have posted this bike before (here), but it has some lovely new additions that I just had to document.
This contemporary retro-styled headlight
these nifty panniers.
and the world’s shiniest gold bell
Nice.
Not only did this one not get away, it waited patiently for me to finish my frolic in the pool then go home and get my camera (it’s not very far), yes a REAL CAMERA, not just a phone.
With the lovely light and the lovely camera (fairly new, am still excited) I was able to focus close up on details like this…
and this…
gosh! this is a new decal to me, it’s a Raleigh Denim – grooveee
But there’s more. All the while that I was keeping my eye on it in the pool, then slipping home for my camera, my imagination was running wild about what this was for…
Is it a docu-bike? Bike cam? Was it taking photos even as I was splashing around practicing my newly acquired skill of going backwards into an under-water handstand?
Sadly the answer is none of the above. I met the rider and she informed me the camera is kaput – only for decoration and a bit of front reflector action. Ah well. Still happy with my find.
To the orange Peugeot folder with the wicker basket parked outside the pool yesterday,
the purple Peugeot folder that sailed past my balcony some months back,
the green Raleigh that whizzed past in the same direction the very next day,
to the unidentified shopper that was nearly stacked by its uninitiated rider (new to back pedal brakes she said) outside my garden fence,
to the sky blue Malvern Star with white trimmings that I didn’t have the heart to chase down one stinking hot day last summer,
and to all the little lovelies who have eluded my camera…
this one’s for you.
Gosh darn this interweb thingy is smart – look what links it came up with overnight?
Lindsay Pollack has been a musical hero of mine since I saw him playing the watering can clarinet on some kids TV show about 100 years ago. He makes instruments from anything – carrot clarinet, camp-stool flute, bike pump bag pipe. He also is a beautiful player of balkan music and has the most wonderful tone (whenever I think about getting a new clarinet to replace my cheapy cheap one I think of his tone on the watering can and figure I just need to practice more).
But enough about me – here’s the man…
couldn’t resist putting in this one as well
and for something a little less melodic but no less interesting…here’s a young Frank Zappa playing the bicycle.
It’s holidays! After 12 lazy laps and a little frolic in my beloved Fitzroy pool I sit down to check my emails and do a spot of bill paying…some time later I emerge from a serious net-noodling session. Here’s some things I discovered on the way.
1975 Dawes Kingpin folding bike from Vintage Green Bike a new brand for me. I just found this article about them on the very excellent Raleigh Twenty site
Bianci from Vintage Green Bike via Fuck Yeah Weird Bikes
This Cyclepro from Riding on Roadways, (which is where I stumbled onto Fuck Yeah Weird Bikes) and which also had this article about Alex Mouton (RIP), little bike pioneer.
then I remember this big wheeled beauty I’ve been saving up from some other noodling session (should have made a note of the link to give credit to the restorer)
Red delicious
and then I remember another bike I’d spotted on St Georges Road aeons ago that I’d been saving up for a big-wheel feature
Perfect silhouette
and one more big wheeler from the archive just to make it a magic three
A Phillips. You can see more Phillips here.
and now it’s time for tea
…and some time and 3 dark chocolate tim tams later I found this.
Honkitty honk for the new year, and farewell to this little blue Hallmark,
complete with spokey dokes, which cosied up to my Gitane under the stairs of my flats for most of last year.
It has moved north to the land of back gardens and tall ceilings
(that’s right – Northcote).
We (my bike and I) will miss it (and the lovely people it came with).
Tootle oo
5am let cat out
7.30am let cat in, back to bed with tea, toast and laptop (and cat) for a ‘quick’ post
8.30am finally come up with an angle for the eclectic mix of photos waiting to be posted (Follow through)
9am finish that bloody post by hook or crook
10am -12pm run errands in the city that include:
making a book delivery rendezvous in one of my favourite arcades Cambell Arcade or Degraves Street Subway depending on who you are talking to
and visiting Writers Victoria and SPUNC in the rather lovely Wheeler Centre for Books, Writing and Ideas
then stumble across this very friendly woman out and about on her house mate’s Raleigh Stowaway
this is a detail I have never seen before…
12.30pm stop to eat lunch under the best lunch-eating-under tree in Exhibition Gardens
12.30 – 7.15pm blah blah blah
8.00pm On the way to a theatre show at Footscray stumble across red Stowaway number 2. How weird is that?
I checked for the little embossed detail that I found on the Stowaway number 1, but nowhere to be found.
And here’s some thing I had never really noticed about the Stowaway, check this odd curve on the head stem.
and the text on the saddle deserves a place alongside Roadmaster in my excellent-brand-name-on-saddles file. This one looks like cool cartoon caption writing.
10ish pm get home and let grumpy cat out (cabin fever – poor wee flat-cat)
11.30ish pm let cat in
You may or may not know that I usually leave a calling card on bikes I photograph, inviting the rider to visit the blog and tell us about their bike. I love it when they do, and have had some very happy-making visits from riders including this one and this one. But it seems to have dropped off lately, in face I can’t remember the last time I got a response from a rider.
Given this I’ve been a little slack about posting within 48 hours, which is my promise on the card. Like who cares? I think. Well I hope the rider of this little folder with the lovely lugs didn’t care, 
because I just realised I have missed the 48 hour deadline for it twice. I posted it about a year ago (here) with an apology for missing the deadline, and missed it again this time. Sigh.
Anyway, enough about me and my short comings – I managed to pick up some nice details this time around that I can share with you right now, love those lugs…
and while we’re looking a details, here’s some more from a little Malvern Star I’ve seen around a bit, though never had a chance to photograph before now (which was actually a few weeks ago, but I didn’t have a card on me so the rider will never know). I am crazy about the sweep of the handlebars …perfect
I also like the detail of the blue chain
and I like this
and this
and this
and speaking of blue Malvern Stars, and bikes that I have seen more than once, and bikes that I don’t post when I promise to, here’s one that ticks all those boxes.
I see this little work horse around Fitzroy all the time. I finally met the rider (who is very tall for such a small bike) in Rose Street a few weeks ago. In fact it was the same day as Rose Street Pink. I was considering following up Rose Street Pink with a post called Rose Street Blue, but thought a single photo post might be a bit of a let down after the elaborate sequence of the previous post. See how I keep you, the reader, in mind? I know there are only a bakers dozen who read this blog regularly, but you are my bakers dozen and I care about your reading satisfaction.
close
still close
a bit more of the picture
swing around now
step back a bit
not that far
that’s better
here’s the full picture
perfect
I’m excited! A new little bike has been unearthed. Not by me, but by our friend the new recyclist.
And the name of this archeological wonder you ask? Allow me to present the Elswick Cosmopolitan.
Hitherto this little bike blogger knew only of the Elswick Hopper. (Gosh, the excitement seems to have made my language go all ye olde worlde. Who, I ask you, says ‘hitherto’ any more?)
And for a complete rundown of the Cosmopolitan and what it might take to restore it to its former glory, here’s the post it was featured in (or should I say: ‘in which it was featured’).
